Other
Scientific paper
May 2002
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2002agusmsm42a..15l&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Spring Meeting 2002, abstract #SM42A-15
Other
2730 Magnetosphere: Inner, 2788 Storms And Substorms
Scientific paper
A considerable body of work exists demonstrating a poor correlation between substorms and radiation belt formation. Yet the basic electrodynamic processes in a substorm highly favor such a connection. Nonetheless, based on available statistical evidence, it is widely believed that only geomagnetic storms typically lasting several days significantly affect the radiation belt, while substorms do not. Here we reconsider the issue by separating out substorms where the solar wind pressure is low (p < 3.5 nPa). A significant correlation between substorm activity and radiation belt electron intensity is found for cases where the solar wind pressure is low. Simple considerations show that trapping of relativistic energy electrons within the magnetosphere should be favored for the less compressed low solar wind configuration. Certain other considerations are able to further explicate the mystery. Since the region of newly accelerated electrons typically lies Earthward of the monitoring geostationary satellites, such satellites should best be able to observe an enhanced radiation belt when the solar wind pressure was low at the substorm onset epoch, but for which solar wind pressure subsequently increased. We have verified this prediction as well. Under such conditions the correlation between the radiation belt fluxes and the auroral electroject index AL rises to about 0.5. We conclude that substorms are, after all, efficient at creating relativistic electrons within the radiation belt, but that only a minority of substorms (those with p < 3.5 nPa) are able to trap the newly energized electrons.
Lyatsky W. B.
Newell Patrick T.
Tan Aihong
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